IT IS a matter of some regret that we have to reflect today on measures being taken to prevent young Muslim pupils being racially abused on buses on their way to a Liverpool school.
The hijab-wearing girls, pupils at Holly Lodge Girls’ College, in West Derby, have faced verbal attacks, and, to make matters worse, some bus drivers have reportedly avoided picking the girls up at bus stops, in order to prevent trouble. The drivers have also been accused of racism for this, which is, in our judgment, a little harsh.
If the events have happened as described, then it is clear that some drivers have lacked the moral courage to stand up to the bullies and protect the girls from abuse.
That is no cause for pride, and they have certainly failed in their duty to their passengers, but it is not, in itself, racism. The deployment of community officers to board buses in the area is a positive step by Merseyside Police to tackle the immediate problem, and the plan to work with city schools to remind pupils that racial abuse is a criminal offence will also help to attack the issue at its roots.
It is sad in the extreme that the police have to deploy their resources in this manner, but they are quite right to do so. Nobody should have to put up with the kind of treatment these girls have had to endure.
Ultimately, however, the kind of contemptible ignorance that leads to racist behaviour will never go away until society at every level stands up and condemns it. Every one of us must make it clear, whenever and wherever we encounter it, that it is socially – as well as legally – unacceptable.
